Star Wars: Runaway
by AnnikaSkywalker05
Summary: Poe Dameron has always been a rebel and a pilot. Ever since he was a little boy his mother had taken him up into space. But with her gone, and only his father and their tense relationshio left, Poe finds himself willingly in the presence of dangerous criminals. Will he stay with them forever, or will his roots as a rebel take hold on his future? *ON HIATUS*
1. Chapter1:Memories

-Star Wars "Runaway"

Started 1/8/20

**_Sixteen year-old Poe Dameron has been living with his father Kes Dameron in the absence of his deceased mother Shara Bey, whom he had shared the most deep mother-and-son love anyone could have possibly imagined. He still loves his father, but their increasingly tense relationship causes trouble and Poe finds himself willingly in the presence of dangerous criminals. Will he survive the treacherous missions they go on and stay forever, or will he remember his roots and return home?_**

**Chapter 1: Memories**

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Yavin 4 was a beautiful moon. There was wildlife of many species, almost all of them friendly towards the human and alien inhabitants. The thick green forests stretched across the entire planet, giving home to many birds and insects that sang throughout the entire morning. Water was abundant, but rain was not constant so the air was always cool and dry. Waterfalls and lakes were scattered across the moon, their blue surface sparkling in the blotted sunlight that peeked through the trees. But Yavin 4 wasn't just a place of wonderful climate and scenery; it was a place of incredible history. Intergalactic history had been made there; in fact, the historical event had been so significant that much of the civilized galaxy now used a time system with the moon's name in it: Before the Battle of Yavin, or BBY, and After the Battle of Yavin, or ABY. And the battle was so important because it was the first major blow to the evil Galactic Empire and their unimaginable self-confidence and ego. Everyone from the Correliian underworld to the royal palaces on Naboo had heard of the legendary Luke Skywalker, the Jedi boy who blew up the planet-killing space station known as the Death Star. The war hadn't been over, of course; the Empire still had fleets of star destroyers and plenty of people that almost wiped out the Rebellion and even succeeded in building a second Death Star, but in the end the light had prevailed. The Emperor was killed, along with his apprentice Darth Vader, and the Empire was reduced to no more than stragglers who refused to accept their complete and utter defeat to a group of nobodies that had come together to fight for their freedom. Many of these people still caused trouble, but one by one the New Republic found them and made sure that they were given trials, or if it came to it, justified execution. The former rebel soldiers became bodyguards, protectors, riot suppressors, and a form of police force rounding up the surviving Imps. Among them was Kes Dameron and Shara Bey, a couple that met during the Rebellion and eventually moved to Yavin 4. And shortly after they arrived, the Damerons became a threesome.

Poe had been born to Kes and Shara Dameron two years after the destruction of the first Death Star. And right off the bat they knew he'd be a pilot like his mother. Much to the worry of his father, Poe had gone up with his mother in her A-wing at a very young age and flown through the stars, her hands guiding his on the flight stick as the six-year old boy sat in her lap. And before they knew it, Shara wasn't guiding his hands anymore. Soon, at perhaps age seven, he flew on his own, even successfully landing on the forest floor. Poe and his mother had flown to the nearest planets and hideaways together, and when he turned eight, he received a ship of his own. The red and grey X-wing had changed his life forever. He named it "Red 4", with the reasoning that "I"ll always be good, but Skywalker (whose call sign was Red 5) will probably always be just one step ahead of me." Soon he and his mother would zip through asteroid fields and nebulas with ease, their laughter floating across the endless, free void of space sand stars.

Until one day, it was all over…

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**_10 ABY, Yavin 4_**

Poe and his comrade practically sprinted outside as soon as their instructor dismissed them to go home. School was terribly boring, especially for eight year old Poe Dameron, particularly since instead he could be flying Red 4 through the asteroid field they recently discovered with his mother or go scouting the deep ravine he'd found in the woods with his father. At least the small school on his beloved home moon wasn't a Coruscanti school by any means; the hours were only from eight in the morning to one in the afternoon, and he only had one instructor and seventeen classmates. The charming old building used to be a pile of stone rubble, which used to be a temple, but now it had been refurbished into a large room with symmetrical rectangular holes that served as windows and a neatly chiseled stone floor. Their instructor, Mr. Servanos, used a black chalkboard and a green piece of chalk that was often hard to see from where Poe sat in the back of the room, but for Poe, it was only another reason why he shouldn't bother to pay attention. Who needed to know what the tallest skyscraper on Coruscant is or how many queens Naboo had in its history when he could be learning about the Old Republic, The Empire, or how to plot a course into hyperspace in under five seconds? Those were the things he cared about, not useless facts. He wanted to fly, and know who had come before him and his parents who had fought so hard to free the galaxy from the Empire's white-knuckled grip on almost every star system. Why couldn't history class talk about current and interesting people like Wedge Antilles or Han Solo, not Chancellor Valorum and Viceroy Nute Gunray. Politics, and even more so their history, were a terribly uninteresting topic to Poe. But luckily, school only lasted five hours on Yavin 4, so he and his long-time friend Kyn had time to spare. The pair used to spend every day after school together for a couple hours, but now that Poe had his own X-Wing, he itched to go see her and touch the nose of that wondrous ship the moment he walked into school. Kyn had been hurt by it a little, Poe had noticed, but he knew his friend understood. It had only been a week; soon enough he would get over his inability to not be in the cockpit and they'd hang out again like they used to.

"Can you guess what I found the other day, just outside the spot where the First Death Star exploded?" Poe asked his friend as they trudged through the tall grass and leaves that endlessly covered the surface of their home. Kyn's eyes sparkled in anticipation, always getting just as excited as Poe when a new discovery was made. "No, tell me! What did you find?" Poe grinned, knowing Kyn would be impressed. Impressing others was something he had found to be rather enjoyable. "An actual asteroid field. Right close to home! And even better yet," Poe paused as Kyn's jaw dropped open in amazement and awe, "I'm gonna fly through it today with Mom. Can you believe it?" Kyn quickened his walking pace and seemed to still be star struck by the revelation. "No, I can't. That's awesome! I'd ask you to take with us with you, but Dad would never, ever let me. I wish I was your brother and had your parents," Kyn huffed in envy. Poe had to agree; Kyn's father was rather stern and didn't have a sense of humor whatsoever, while his mother was sweet but overprotective. Poe had often wondered how the heck the two of them had made Kyn.

"Well, I dunno Kyn. Dad can get pretty angry if he wants to be. And Mom has thought of some creative consequences whenever I do something 'bad'", Poe said with a small laugh as he made quotation marks around the word 'bad' with his fingers. Kyn laughed with him, remembering. "Yeah, the 'bad' things may or may not include you sabotaging the entire Old Republic Politics test and making it all about you and me, you getting into a heated fight with Premi just because he preferred A-wings over X-wings, and other things that go without saying." "Hey! The suspension I got from that test saved me a whole lot of schoolwork!" Poe loudly countered and gave the blonde-haired boy friendly shove with his elbow. "You mean the suspension that gave you five zeros because you missed everything? I don't think that's being saved from work," Kyn reminded him with a teasing smile that showed his teeth. Poe shook his head in defeat and looked up to see his most precious red and grey belonging sitting on its stone platform, its cockpit tempting him beyond belief. "Okay, see you later Ky—" Poe started to say, but upon whirling around, realized his friend had already left. With a careless shrug, he almost ran to his X-Wing and put his hand on the nose, barely reaching it with his currently small stature. Normally when he got home the ladder to his cockpit was down and his bright red matching astromech, R5, was in his socket, but neither of those things were in place. _Weird_, the eight year old though as he looked for his helmet and flight suit, which were also mysteriously absent from Red 4's landing zone.

"Poe."

Poe whirled around and saw his father standing outside their front door, his hands gripping the buckles on his belt and his appearance looking rather disheveled. "Hey Dad," Poe called and hurriedly walked over to what passed as their front porch, studying his father curiously. His long brown hair was in a particularly messy bun behind his head, his beard unruly across his face and his dark brown eyes looked unfocused and distant. "Sorry your stuff wasn't there, Poe. I have it right here."

_Bloop-brvump?_

"Yes, and R5, of course," Kes Dameron added after the droid made its composing at merely being called stuff.

Normally, Poe would have laughed at that, but his father seemed so...strange. As if something terrible was afflicting his thoughts and he was desperately trying to cover it up. It caused a nervous rock to form in the eight year old's secretly sore throat.

"Where's Mom?" Poe finally asked to break the awkward silence, unable to bear it any longer. She was always waiting with Red 4 and his gear after he came home from school, standing ready to free him from the confining forests and house and let him roam free in space with her. There hadn't been a day since he'd gotten the ship that she hadn't been there. Not one.

The boy looked up at his father's dark eyes that were so much like his own, except now they seemed as empty as space itself. As if something was haunting them, having pulled something so full of life and light out of the usually warm and kind circles. "Poe, I don't know how to tell you this," his father started but stopped when he seemed to choke on the last word. Poe fear went up ten levels at the sound. His father was the most strong-willed and immovable person he knew. Something truly terrible must have happened if it affected him so deeply. "Maybe...just try using one sentence?" Poe suggested as his own voice threatened to cut him off. Heck, he didn't even know what it was yet and he was already choking? He quickly swallowed the growing rock in his throat.

Finally, Kes Dameron slowly nodded and looked right into Poe's fearful eyes, and only then did his son see the tears streaming down his face and dripping onto the soiled stone steps. "Your mother's dead."

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**So this was sort of an intro to get you into the mood of what Poe's mother meant to him and what his young life was like. Chapter Two will have much more dialogue, but the super exciting action stuff pribsbky won't be until three or four. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and feel free to constructively criticize me, but please no "wow this is bad" Thanks for reading and may the force be with you! *Next chapter coming in a day or teo hopefully***


	2. Ch2:Resentment

**_-Now, 18 ABY_**

**Chapter 2: Resentment**

Everyone, from his teacher to his friends to everyone that attended the funeral to even his father that was suffering the same unbearable grief had said it would pass with time. Poe had forced himself to believe them, and he really had tried to do so and move on, but eight years later the revelation was still such a shock. Most of Poe's life had gone on; he still had school, still spent time with Kyn, still caused trouble, and still went on small adventures with his father, but the one thing he treasured above all had disappeared into thin air without warning. A simple pirate attack over hard feelings towards the New Republic had taken his mother's life. It constantly nagged Poe that a few petty criminals had managed to outsmart his mother, who he felt was the best dogfighter and pilot in the Rebellion. Why couldn't the New Republic deal with all these dirty criminals and thieves that went around causing trouble in a galaxy that was supposed to be free and safe again? Why didn't General Organa respond to the death of one of her own veterans more seriously and take legitimate action against these pirates?

Why did his mother have to die?

His resentment for the New Republic's inaction had slowly grown the longer it had been since the murder of Shara Dameron. He knew his father had contacted Leia about it, and knew all he got were her soft words and tender condolences for the father and son. That was all well and good, but why didn't she _do_ something about it?

The now sixteen-year old Poe Dameron slammed his fist into the wall of his bedroom in frustration as he wondered this for maybe the one thousandth time since he'd come home from school that day, eight years ago. He vividly remembered his childish excitement over the asteroid field discovery and the promise from his mother that they'd fly through it, only to return home to find out she was _gone_. It'd left him confused, shocked, and, even at one point, angry. He'd flown Red 4 up into space while his helpless father watched from the front porch, well knowing there was so stopping his son from escaping to the freedom of space. The eight year old had sat in the cockpit and stared out at the colossal floating rocks of the asteroid field for hours while he cried, refusing to let himself enter without his mother.

To this day, he had never flown into the field so close to his home.

He hadn't let himself, despite the temptation of the challenge, for fear that he would break the promise to his mother that they would go there together. Doing it would feel like betrayal.

As for his father…

"Poe!" came Kes Dameron's voice through the closed door of his room and into his son's ears as the teenager pulled his fist away from the stone wall, only now realizing that striking it with his bare hand hadn't been the best idea.

"I know, I know. I'm coming," Poe shouted back and cradled his throbbing hand, knowing he was running late for school again. His success in school only had continued to dwindle in the past eight years, and now that he was almost done with every grade, he still had what were considered to be very mediocre scores. His father wasn't very pleased with him on that matter.

Which unfortunately only made their relationship worse.

"There's this really cool concept called punctuality!" Kes sarcastically called from across the house, clearly exasperated. Poe assumed it was justified; he was so late all the time that he usually arrived when the lesson for the day had already started. But it didn't matter to him, especially not today. For after so many months of constructing and salvaging materials, he and his best friend Kyn had finally completed their most secret and prized project, and today was the day they would finally use it after school.

_After school._ It seemed like so long from now.

With a huff of frustration, Poe finally exited his room and joined his father in the kitchen, who had set his bag full of school materials on the table along with the breakfast he'd cooked for the two of them.

Or at least had _tried_ to cook for them. Kes Dameron wasn't exactly a five star chef, even after having to do all of the cooking for eight years now. The blackened and cold-looking bread on Poe's plate proved as much.

_If only Mom were here_, the sixteen year old wished for perhaps the tenth time that morning as he plopped into his chair with a suppressed sigh.

"Poe, Mr. Servanos told me yesterday that you and Kyn are sneaking out during lunch break and coming back half and hour late every day. Care to explain?"

Another one of these conversations, Poe thought irritably before his father even finished his sentence. The ones full of questions and pressing looks from the father, followed by vague and evasive answers from the son, which in turn produced a miniature lecture and stern words from the father concerning his success in school and his self-discipline. They were the type that Poe dreaded every morning, and the ones that made the closeness between him and his father shrink even smaller than it was already.

"It's nothing. We just like to wander off and get back late," Poe vaguely answered and quickly swallowed his water to avoid having to answer right away. Kes Dameron responded with a small eye roll and an exaggerated huff. "I'm asking what exactly you do when you wander off," he clarified, purposefully waiting for Poe to finish his intentionally long drink of water so he could answer promptly.

"Just go and find interesting stuff. You know this rock is covered in old things from when the Rebels had an official base here," Poe answered, well aware that his answer was only halfway truthful. Did he go off looking for old Rebellion stuff? Yeah, but he wasn't about to tell his father why.

"Okay, just make sure you start getting back in time. Your scores don't need to suffer any more than they already are."

"Sure thing. I gotta go," Poe fake promised as he abruptly stood up from his chair and slung his bag over his shoulder. The way he saw it, the only one who could possibly suffer was him, and not his scores, and surely studying instead of flying and exploring would only make him suffer. So better to have a low percentage than be bored out of his mind.

"And don't get into trouble!"

"Now that," Poe called back to his father with a mischievous grin as he quickly stepped out the door, "is a hard promise to keep."

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**Yes, I know it's short and I apologize! But I decided that it'd be better for me to post small chapters regularly rather than large chapters infrequently. I wasn't super happy with my writing on this one, but I think this is a necessary buildup to what will occur soon. Also, the timeline of this is based on the information provided in the Visual Dictionary for The Rise of Skywalker. Kyn is an original character I made, and the teacher is made up as well. But everything/everyone else is legitimate. If you're wondering when I'll get to Zorri and the Spice Runners...I'll probably get to them around chapter 4-6 based on what I have planned. See you next chapter**** and leave a nice review if you'd like :)**


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